KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Government’s effort to have the states of emergency (SOEs) it declared for seven parishes on November 15 extended until January 14, 2023, was refused by Opposition Leader Mark Golding on Tuesday night in the House of Representatives.

While he had already left by the time the vote was taken, Golding had stated that he would not support the emergency measure, arguing that they were unconstitutional.

He also pointed to issues with the regulations governing the SOEs and the tribunal to monitor their operation.

Golding signalled his lack of support as he started his response to what was more than an hour’s long presentation from Holness. He brushed aside what he described as the prime minister’s “very animated performance”, adding that it was “worthy of an Academy award”.

Golding took issue with the prime minister’s categorisation of crime, in particular his description of murders as a threat to public health, stating that “we don’t respond to public health crises by unconstitutional measures. We respond to it effectively by ordinary legislation”.

The Opposition leader argued that the repeated use of SOEs by the Holness administration since 2017 “has …been a subversion of our constitutional order which I don’t support as it is inconsistent with my parliamentary oath”. He also cited court cases which he said have seriously questioned the constitutionality of the SOEs and noted that the government was disregarding the “cardinal constitutional principle of respecting the separation of powers among the three branches of the state”.

With the regulations and tribunal not signed off on when the latest SOEs were declared by the prime minister, Golding accused Holness of disrespecting the Opposition with his repeated calls for them to “come on board”.

He asserted that the SOEs were in force for a full two days before the tribunal that would govern their operations were gazetted and were “backdated” .

Holness urged Golding to provide proof.

When Holness responded after Golding had left the chamber to attend to a family emergency, a peeved Holness brushed aside some of what Golding said was “nonsense”.

While Golding had suggested that the government strengthens social programmes such as the Peace Management Initiative and the Restorative Justice programme to aid in the crime fight, Holness was dismissive in his response.

While arguing that some hardened criminals do not respond to social programmes, the prime minister told the Opposition leader to go and meet and have prayers with an unnamed don, who he said was hiding out in the hills of the St Andrew East Rural constituency.

In the end, 44 government members with their superior majority, voted yes to approve the motion. And, while Holness expressed hope that the measure will pass in the Senate, recent history shows Opposition senators voting similarly to how their colleagues vote in the lower chamber.

With the government needing to peel off the support of one Opposition senator to achieve the two-thirds requirement in the upper chamber, it is unlikely the latest iteration of the SOE will survive beyond November 29.

Government members of parliaments, led by the prime minister, suggested the Opposition members were not interested in saving lives.